


Sandstone Origins

by Rogue21



Series: The Redemption Of Jasper [4]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Amethyst arc, Beta Kindergarten, Corrupted Gems, Corrupted Gems can fuse, Jasper's monsters, Smoky Quartz debut, We're around the Beta and Earthlings Episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 08:43:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7750930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogue21/pseuds/Rogue21
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steven, Bloodstone, Jasper, and Amethyst visit Peridot at the barn, it’s a cold reception from Lapis, but a visit to the Beta Kindergarten reveals a little more into the origins of Jasper and her monster hunting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sandstone Origins

“I still don’t see why Greg lives in the van, the man is rich, if I knew what to do with human money…well I wouldn’t be living in a van, or sleeping on your sofa,” Bloodstone said to Steven as they headed over the field to Peridot’s and Lapis Lazuli’s barn. Jasper got her own room but Bloodstone preferred to sleep on the sofa.

“My father is a down to Earth man, that’s why mom liked him, he wouldn’t want to spend it on big things like mansions and finely tailored suits,” Steven explained to her.

“I still don’t understand how Rose Quartz fell in love with a human, it makes no sense, and if what Bloodstone says is true…physically impossible, I mean…it’s weird!” Jasper said. She still didn’t understand Steven’s origins and couldn’t fathom Rose’s fascination with humans either.

“You might think it’s weird but I am a product of that weirdness,” Steven said proudly.

“And that’s a good thing because without Steven, I wouldn’t have discovered the art of being cool,” Amethyst said transforming into ‘cool’ Amethyst. Jasper never liked to transform, why change yourself unless it was due to your gemstone being damaged?

“I’m already cool I’m the perfect Quartz,” Jasper pointed out to her. Amethyst laughed at her statement, she was a tough foe to beat sure, but perfect, no there were flaws all over that Gem.

“Nobody’s perfect Jasper, me especially because I made a terrible spy, most Bloodstone’s are supposed to keep to the shadows, observe Gems, ask the right questions to the right Gems, do you know what my first words were when I emerged from my Kindergarten?” Bloodstone said.

“What were they?” Amethyst asked.

“’I want to go back in the ground’, apparently the Peridots working on my Kindergarten flipped when they saw me getting dragged kicking and screaming from the ground by two Rubies…they should have shattered me right from the start I was never going work, but White Diamond put her faith in me…and now I’m here,” Bloodstone said smiling at Jasper.

“Wow you really were a coward, wanting to go back in the ground, hiding in a bubble during the war, being bubbled again because you were afraid of getting hurt, you’re a terrible Bloodstone,” Jasper pointed out to her.

“And I thank you for your brutal and hurtful honesty, but Rose helped me, she taught me to be brave, and the Greeks taught me never to take crap from a man in a toga, and if he slaps your butt then you punch him in the face,” Bloodstone replied to her. They reached the barn where Peridot and Lapis were watching Camp Pining Hearts, Peridot saw Amethyst and dived to the ground to hug her and say hello. Her face immediately grimaced at the sight of Jasper.

“Are you sure it’s wise for her to be here, Lapis is right up there,” Peridot said pointing to Lapis who was ignoring them and focused on the TV show.

“I know, but I want them to try and make peace, perhaps with…Peacock Topaz,” Steven said looking at Jasper and Bloodstone for support.

“If it means being allowed to leave Beach City to hang out here, I’m all for it, this place is vintage,” Bloodstone said. Jasper shrugged, she was still getting used to a comfortable fusion with Bloodstone.

“Whatever,” she said coolly. Bloodstone grabbed Jasper’s hand and span into her arms and they fused into Peacock Topaz.

“How do I look?” Peacock asked.

“Perfect, hey Lapis, come on down,” Steven said. Lapis flew down and landed gently on the ground.

“Steven,” Peridot warned him.

“Lapis this is Peacock Topaz, they’ve got something to say to you,” Steven said. Peacock stepped forward and knelt down.

“Hi Lapis, I’m Peacock, I’m a fusion, I…I know Malachite was a bad fusion, really bad, horrible even, it was unhealthy and I should never have coerced you into, not if it meant months of agony for the both of us, I’m sorry Lapis, I don’t expect forgiveness but I had to say sorry,” Peacock said with a sympathetic smile.

“Jasper?” Lapis asked confused.

“Oh crap,” Peacock said and immediately unfused.

“Well we tried, Steven you’re up,” Bloodstone said Lapis looked at the confused heap that was Bloodstone and Jasper.

“I don’t understand, you fused with this Gem?” Lapis asked, sounding hurt.

“My name is Bloodstone, I’m a Crystal Gem,” Bloodstone said standing up.

“I don’t care who you are, didn’t she tell how Malachite came to be, how she forced me into this fusion and how I tried to trap her for months at the bottom of the ocean using all my strength against her, how she begged for me to come back to her and be Malachite again,” Lapis said to Bloodstone.

“Of course I did, I know it was wrong, I know it was bad, I hated that fusion, but it was all I knew for so long,” Jasper said standing up too as Bloodstone stared down at the blue gem.

“And yet she still wanted to fuse,” Lapis said coldly.

“That doesn’t matter, I didn’t come here today wanting your blessing to be Peacock Topaz, I came here to prove I was wrong about Malachite, about everything, I screwed up, I don’t expect your forgiveness Lapis, I don’t want it,” Jasper said and walked away towards the warp pad.

“Jasper wait,” Peridot cried but Jasper had already warped away. Bloodstone then looked at Lapis with a four-eyed glare.

“You have a lovely gem,” Bloodstone said still glaring at her.

“Thank you?” Lapis said confused by the glare and the compliment.

“Well that was a disaster,” Peridot said unimpressed. Steven sighed, guess not every Gem can be friends with one another. Lapis and Jasper had way too much hatred from their fusion to ever be friends.

“Pfft, disaster is an understatement,” Amethyst remarked.

“Why would you even fuse with her, more to the point why are you friends with her?” Lapis asked Bloodstone.

“Oh many reasons, like how I saved her life from a corrupted Amethyst, showed her kindness because she didn’t see me as a Crystal Gem, and was rather open about her problems but that’s what happens when you hit rock bottom, we fused into Peacock Topaz but we still haven’t figured what the fusion does exactly and…well she’s not perfect and that doesn’t matter, I don’t condone her trying to kill Steven or trying to crush Amethyst’s Gem but then again, you and Peridot both attempted to kill Steven too,” Bloodstone explained.

“Once again very sorry I tried to kill you guys,” Peridot added in.

“Where do you think she went?” Steven asked them.

“Beta Kindergarten probably, a hack job place made in the middle of the Gem War, you’ll do anything when you need soldiers on the ground,” Peridot said.

“Well I hope she’s okay, I’m going to see, she’s my friend and I help my friends,” Steven said.

“Well looks like we’re going to Beta, you going to be okay Lapis?” Peridot asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Lapis said.

“Do you need anything while I’m gone?” Peridot asked her. Lapis shook her head. “Okay see you in a few hours.” Lapis flew back to the TV and Bloodstone, Amethyst, Peridot, and Steven wen to the warp pad.

 

They arrived in Beta Kindergarten, it was quiet, dry and the sun was high in the sky. The place was haunting to Steven, like Prime Kindergarten was, a graveyard of Gem history with hollowed out holes where Gems were made.

“Look at this place, total rush job, the holes are inadequately sized, and this Gem came out sideways,” Peridot said pointing a vertical hole where the Gem had fallen out. Bloodstone shivered at the place, Alpha Kindergarten, where she was created, had been shiny and vast, but this was scary to her, she half wanted to poof back into her Gem and hide until Steven had taken her back to the barn, but she couldn’t, she needed to be brave, she took a deep breath in and slowly breathed out.

“Jasper!” Steven yelled out suddenly. Bloodstone yelped and then suddenly poofed back into her Gemstone. Amethyst chuckled and picked up the dark green and red spotty Gem.

“Uh Steven, I think you scared Bloodstone,” she said showing him the Gem.

“Oh I’m sorry Bloodstone,” he apologised to the Gemstone. It did nothing in reply so Amethyst held onto her while they looked for Jasper. Then they found the largest of all the Gem holes.

“That was where Jasper was created, this hole is the most perfect example of a full grown functioning Quartz,” Peridot said as Steven gave her a boost to examine the hole.

“She came out flexing her arms, sounds about right, can’t just be tough and tall has to be a show-off too, right Bloodstone,” Amethyst said disinterested. The Bloodstone Gem made no response. “Oh come on, nothing out here is going to crush you, you big baby,” she said harshly to the Gem. Steven saw more holes, this time with bars on and saw Gem monsters inside them, chewing on the bars calling out in distress and there was Jasper sitting in front of two monsters in the same cage, she looked sad and did nothing to comfort the monsters that were scratching at the ground.

“Jasper?” Steven asked worried for the Gem. Jasper ignored him and just watched the monsters instead. The monsters growled and whined at her and Jasper then stood up.

“What happened to you, to us, to all of us?” she asked.

“Jasper, why do you have all these monsters?” Amethyst asked her, tapping Bloodstone to wake her up.

“They weren’t just Gems, not just soldiers for the Homeworld army…these Gems were my family, we were all grown here, and I knew if I could find them…I could keep Pink Diamond’s promise,” Jasper said breaking down in tears. Steven’s lip trembled and walked over to her and hugged her arm.

“I’m sorry Jasper,” he said.

“What happened to them, what made them this way, and why wasn’t I with them when it happened?” she asked him watching the corrupted Biggs and Ocean Jaspers huddle together.

“The Diamonds did this, not Pink Diamond, the other Diamonds, they did this to your family, is this all of them?” Steven replied looking around at the other monsters.

“These are all the ones I could find, they were my army, my family, I should have protected them,” Jasper said sadly. Bloodstone’s Gem began to glow and she re-emerged, her design remained the same but her hair was slightly wilder. She looked down at Amethyst and Peridot who said nothing.

“Well why don’t we get Garnet and Pearl and we’ll put them all in safe bubbles, they’ll be protected then, and we can find a way to heal them, to bring them back, I almost healed Centipeedle, I can help them too, please Jasper, you don’t need to be alone in this,” Steven offered.

“She would have done the same thing,” Jasper said turning away from the two monsters. Did she mean Pink Diamond or Rose, Steven wondered as he let go of her arm and followed her.

“Uh guys,” Amethyst said as Biggs and Ocean began to fuse together. Steven turned and gasped as the fusion began to break through the wall and sent the metal bars flying.

“Oh no,” he cried as it fused into a giant monster that then let out an angry roar.

“How did it fuse?” Peridot asked as Bloodstone pulled her Katana out of her Gem, and Amethyst grabbed her whip.

“I don’t know, but we have a real tough fight on our hands, Peridot find something that will be strong enough to split the fusion,” Steven ordered as he summoned his shield and Jasper summoned her helmet.

 

Bloodstone and Jasper both ran at the monster fusing together into Peacock Topaz, but a hard swing from the monster sent them crashing into the wall and they unfused instantly.

“It’s too strong,” Bloodstone said.

“We have to keep trying, wear it down,” Jasper said as Steven and Amethyst ran at the monster, the monster swiped at the Steven’s shield and Amethyst wrapped a whip around its hind leg and pulled it to the ground with a great struggle.

“Why is it so heavy?” she cried as she summoned her second whip to try and fight it. Jasper and Bloodstone fused again but the monster kept un-fusing them with its swipe. Steven and Amethyst had no such luck trying to keep the monster off its feet while Peridot struggled to summon a metal bar out of the wall.

“What if we fuse?” Steven suggested as he expanded the shield to protect him and Amethyst.

“What that’s crazy, we can’t do that, we have to beat it on our own,” Amethyst cried unleashing the whip again and hitting Jasper with it by accident.

“Amethyst, Bloodstone and Jasper can’t stay fused it keeps going after them, we need to help them, if we fuse perhaps it will draw away its attention and we’ll be able to take it on together,” Steven said.

“No, I couldn’t beat Jasper by myself and I won’t fuse to win against this monster,” Amethyst cried again as she ran out from behind the shield.

“They can’t do it alone, please Amethyst, I know we’re not exactly tough or big like those two but if they can’t win against this monster separated and can’t stay fused long enough, we have to at least try,” Steven pleaded as Peacock Topaz split again and Bloodstone and Jasper fell to the floor exhausted from constantly trying to fuse for more than five seconds. The monster roared as Steven held out his hand to Amethyst and she looked at him and the pleading in his eyes.

“Alright Steven but what if this doesn’t work?” she said unsure of it.

“Then we grab Peridot and run back to the warp pad to get Garnet and Pearl,” Steven said. She grabbed his hand and together they fused together creating Smoky Quartz. Bloodstone looked up to see the fusion and grinned.

“Alright Smoky Quartz, I was hoping you’d drop by,” she said standing up.

“Well you guys needed an extra hand, so I thought I’d oblige now, how does this work again,” Smoky Quartz said throwing the shield into the air and the whip to create a yo-yo style weapon. One more time, Jasper and Bloodstone fused together and Peacock Topaz pulled from their Gem a long pole with a sharp blade on the end.

“Let’s dance!” they cried. The monster roared as Smoky threw the yo-yo wrapped it around the monster’s neck and Peacock stabbed the pole into the ground, swung around and kicked the monster in the Gem forcing it to split back into Biggs and Ocean.

“You take Biggs, I’ll take the Ocean,” Peacock ordered as they yanked the pole from the ground and smacked Ocean with it into the wall. Smoky laughed as they swung the yo-yo in the air and wrapped it around Biggs’s legs, dragging it across the floor and send it smashing into the wall. Smoky Quartz ran up to Biggs, as it struggled to untangle itself from the yo-yo, and said with a grin.

“You need to chill,” and punched down hard on the Gem causing it to poof into a cloud of smoke. Peacock clutched at Ocean’s Gem and then finally pulled it from the monster poofing it instantly. Smoky Quartz cheered and shook their own hands.

“Thank you so much Smoky, no, thank you Smoky you were terrific,” they said chuckling as Peacock held Ocean Jasper in their palm.

“Well, that’s two Gems down, we have a lot more to go,” they said before un-fusing. Jasper held onto Ocean Jasper as Smoky unfused back into Steven and Amethyst.

“Nice one Steven, I told you there was a possibility and now I know there’s a certainty,” Bloodstone said.

“Well Amethyst, it looks like I was wrong about you,” Jasper said.

“Oh yeah about what?” Amethyst asked to see if her answer would be condescending or insulting.

“You’re a strong Gem fused or not, you would have made a great Beta, like these two were,” Jasper said as she saw Steven bubble Biggs and send it back to the temple.

“Well thanks Jasper, but you still owe me that rematch,” she said, Jasper may be on their side now but she still wanted to fight the Gem after their battle on the beach.

“I know, but no fusions,” Jasper replied.

“No fusions,” Amethyst agreed.

“This is wonderful and everything, but we still have about twelve more monsters here,” Peridot helpfully pointed out as she finally yanked a metal bar from the wall and sent it flying narrowly missing Jasper by inches. She rolled her eyes at Peridot and looked at the Ocean Jasper in her hands.

“I’m sorry Ocean,” she said before bubbling the Gem and sending it away. They walked back to the warp leaving the other monsters behind, Jasper promised to come back for them, she wouldn’t leave them behind again, not like last time.

 

They warped back to the barn where they found five Rubies all bubbled in water by Lapis and Garnet and Pearl watching them. Jasper sighed and slapped her hand to her face.

“Oh what do they want now?” she asked exasperated, one Ruby was a challenge, five Rubies were a nightmare.


End file.
